The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-11-02
HISTORY OF THE BUSTLE.
Tho Impetus Which Has Borne IL inrouen
Successive Stages of Growth.

Now, we don't mean lhe SIeaG ouSI-
ness bustle which belongs to the early
fall and winter trade. nor the great
hustle of the humming and whirling
marts CT manufacturing energy. we
mean the great hustle OF modern 1ash-
ion.
Nothing has outstripped the hustle in
It's gigantic stride for prodlglous. excel
lencc. It is paradoxical that this out
ward forln'' of fashion, which has never
been literally in front, has stu lett al
modistic rivals behind
We can recall when this startiinSSiy
reproductive fruit received the distinct
impetus which has borne it through
successive stages to the present extraor-
d;narv condition of development. Ihe
hustle cot . wondrous impetus from an
accident and alarm Of the wal. we
have intentlv observed its onward
march toward immensely for more than
twenty years; and, now that 1t mas
grown large enough to comprehend this
commentary, we pay to its historic
origin our respectful compliments.
The hustle Of the war period in the
south was cut crcscent-shaped, was
hand-seVed. and was then padded
through an open end with cotton or
sawdust. It was a modest, unobtruslVe
hustle in its manners and when proper
ly adjusted was quite invisible TO Ine
wearer and nearly so to the world.
Like certain lunar eclipses, it could be
viewed only from very limited area.
When Shcrman's Christian battalions
were beaten through the backways OF
GEORGIA and the Carolinas it was
deemed, for prudential reasons, best to
deposit domestic treasure, such as
| money and valuables, where they would
not confront these patriots. 1t was not
at first suspected that the soldiers Woulo
appropriate these effects, but 1t was
feared that the gilt bric-a-hrac, and
brooch. and bracelet jewelry might at
tract their admiration and impede their
march by tempting them to stop and
examine the precious wares.
When brought into full relief by pow
crful field lenses it was at las. seen that
Sberman's Christian battalions were an
army of incontincnt kleptomanlacs,
and that new ingenuities would be IN
constant need to escape their keen and
acute methods of detecting the secret
places of hidden treasures.
Hiding places were numerous IN
truth, but their instincts for stealage
were quite as diverse and quite as
many.
At this crisis the hustle played a his
toric part. :,
1t became safe-despo,it for imperil-
ed jcwelry possessions.
Both cotton and sawdust Dustles we're
now brought into new use. They
were ripped and rid Of their waste
and then were rewadded, but this time
with small wares and valued gems
Two abnormal effects followed, the first
being disturbance of the symmetry
and gravity Of the former hustle, the
second being marked increase in its
proportions. This made it the more
observable, and this, too, led to its
eventual detection by certian OF the SOL
diers which discovery eliminated IN
the theft of many bustles,stogether with
their precious and highly-prized con-
tents
| What was next TO 90!
Shrcwd and resourceful maidens soon
fell upon another device. There was
continual peril Of loss while the bustles
were worn in their allotted places upon
the person, but there was hope of escape
for them if they could be successfully
concealed elsewhere. But where, oh
where? In the house? No! for Sher-
man entered with lurid fagots. In the
woods? No! for his marauders roasted
upon the boughs-
So the noble women resolved to bury
their trinkets in the fields. The broad
acres thus became the depository Of
their charms and treasures and the
Garth covered up their-bustles.
Sco-yonder dune where the tasseled
stalk is noddlng to the breeze and you
could hear the rustic of the corn-blade?
Well, once YOU could hear the rustic of
the hustle. See those tiny hills whence
the hopeful germ OF the happy potato is
looking toward the sun? Well, those
little hills were once sown broadcast
with those beautiful suggestions OF
dromedarial architecture known in the
parlanco Of worldly fashion as-bus-
ties
What became of them?
We can not answer for them all
Nor can we repress the thought that
had they all taken root and ripened and
risen in luxuriant loveliness what .
harvest of bustles there would have
have been! But like other tender and
precarious vegetation, bustles had to
take their chances-and more, too.
Some of them, as before, fell to the
cupidity of Sherman's Christian SOL
diers, who relentlessly uprooted them;
other, after the passage of military
peril, were resurrected to be trans
planted elsewhere, and others STILL be-
ing unmarked, were never found by
those who had hastily and hopefully en-
| tombed them.
But a great an unexpected day had
dawned for bustles. Of the number
that were left in the earth a vast pro
| portion of those which had been filed
| with sawdust in time took root and ex-
uberantly blossoned and fourished.
Those which had contained cotton,
| however, went generally to seed
We would say here that from Ills
startling botanic phenomenon and the
! impressive date and situation We have
been enabled to locate unmistakably
| the rise and progress OF the American
| bustle; and we been convinced, too,
| tbot nothino short of the most pertina-